David DiSalvo is the author of "Brain Changer: How Harnessing Your Brain’s Power to Adapt Can Change Your Life" and the best-selling "What Makes Your Brain Happy and Why You Should Do the Opposite", which has been published in 10 languages. His work has appeared in Scientific American Mind, Forbes, Time, Psychology Today, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, Salon, Esquire, Mental Floss and other publications, and he’s the writer behind the widely read science and technology blogs “Neuropsyched” at Forbes and “Neuronarrative” at Psychology Today. He can be found on Twitter @neuronarrative and at his website, daviddisalvo.org. Contact him at: disalvowrites [at] gmail.com.

10 Smart Things I've Learned from People Who Never Went to College

I grew up in an extended family of folks who for the most part didn’t attend college. Many of them were working full time before they left high school, and a few (like my father) went to night school after they’d already been working for a long time. From an early age my perspective was steeped in wisdom from those who never went to college, but managed to live fulfilling lives just the same. Here are ten things they and others I’ve encountered along the way have taught me.

1. You can learn something useful from anyone.

Whenever we find ourselves ignoring someone because we’ve already determined that they aren’t “smart” enough to say something meaningful, we’ve made a big mistake. Besides being presumptuous and arrogant, this mindset blocks out every useful thing the other person might pass along. Instead of just listening and mining the conversation for nuggets of wisdom, we allow our pre-existing bias to brand everything as “not smart enough for me.” Incredibly bad idea. I’ve yet to meet someone who couldn’t teach me something.

2. If quality slips, it really doesn’t matter how good your ideas were.

This one I learned from a couple of my uncles who worked as quality control specialists on assembly lines. The most ingenious design plans, no matter how many brains contributed to them, can fatally falter in the execution phase if quality slips. This is equally true for intangible plans. Imparting greatness requires a continuum of effort and attention, not just an initial brain-fueled flurry to get exemplary ideas on paper.

3. Don’t ever let a bully intimidate you – not even once.

Now, some might say this one is too dogmatic because it’s possible to allow a bully to intimidate you in the short term so you can get the upper hand in the long term. But the best advice I ever received about this came from a retired truck driver who said, paraphrasing, “When you let a bully intimidate you, the bully doesn’t necessarily win, but you definitely lose.” What he meant was, you lose upstairs where the loss takes a progressively worse toll on your psyche. Yes you can recover from that, but it’s going to take a lot more effort to bring your self-esteem up to par again than if you’d stood your ground to begin with. Reasonable people can differ on this, of course, but I think it’s sound advice.

4. Reciprocity is the name of the relationship game and always will be.

If you can’t find it in yourself to return a favor, or give back more than you got when someone helped you out of a bind, then you are relationship handicapped. While this may seem like basic intuitive logic (and it is), it’s amazing how often it’s ignored. While relationships shouldn’t be tit for tat arrangements, the underlying willingness to reciprocate—even if it’s really hard to do—must be there for the relationship to grow and flourish. None of us are one-way streets.

5. Learning is good; Doing is better.

Well, ok, this one is a little bit on the nose. Learning is more than good – it’s essential. Learning is the elixir that makes the human brain the most powerful organic decision-making and problem-solving tool on the planet. The main point here (passed on to me by a former co-worker) is that there’s a certain magic in doing that many people simply miss out on. You can learn a lot about car engines, but until you get under the hood and work on one, you can’t see just how remarkable an invention these machines we take for granted truly are. That’s one example of thousands, but the same principle applies.

Post Your Comment

Post Your Reply

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting. Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment is called out.

Comments

Nice job. I enjoyed the article. I had a similar upbringing. Being wise and being educated are not always the same thing and when you find them together in the same person, then you’ve found a jewel of a human being.

Having an education or the lack thereof doesn’t speak to a person’s potential or worth. Sometimes the best employee is the one who’s smart enough and knows how to work well and relate well to others rather than the really smart person who thinks being smart is enough in itself and everyone should admire them. Not everybody is good at everything and no matter who you are, you need someone to pick up your trash, maintain the electrical system, get gas to the station where you fill up, stock the grocery shelves, (endless list goes here).

The daughter of one of my teachers who went to an elite math and science school had a teacher tell her class that yes, they had special talents but that there were people working on assembly lines all across the country with just as much and more talent in math and science. He was stressing that in addition to their talent, they had a rare opportunity and they should make it count.

First, I would like also to say that it was a rare and very interesting article. In addition, I will agree with you pamelajean. It is so true that wisdom is not necessary to go along with the education. I have met many educated people who actually knew just some knowledge and nothing else more, and as I have persuaded met people who have not gotten a degree and have infinite knowledge, inexhaustible interesting, and rare personality.

I agree. You ignore a lot of good advice & “street smarts” when you think some (as we might think) “uneducated” person has nothing to contribute. When our parents said “you’re never to old to learn” they were right. That “uneducated” guy has probably walked a lot of miles in his time and has picked up a lot of sage advice along the way…

I like it. My grandfather was a farmer who was not college educated, but gave wise counsel. The best was, “if you hang out with poo,you get it on you.” (He actually used a different word for poo that is not polite for internet conversation but you get the idea). That was advice he gave to my brother and me about choosing friends.